matrulesok

Where do you get them from if it is worth it?

Well, although I am now putting it all in lp2, my collection was (as of 3 days ago) all in sp. All recorded real time. Thats about 120-150 minidiscs worth! Its not so bad, just put a cd in and press synchro record and come back in an hour or so.

I take it you have o use sonicstage? As far as I can see, simple burner only lets atrac3+ onto a hi-md.

I am leaning toward a similar thing: most discs in lp2 for travelling, and a few higher quality (hi-sp) for challenging audio, and some in lower quality (hi-lp) for comedy and things like that. My next question is, what is challenging audio? I listen to all sorts: Blues (muddy waters, john lee hooker etc) through rock (zeppelin, skynyrd, zz top etc) to metal (sabbath, machine head, pantera etc) and ocasionally classical and easy listening. I obviously dont want to sit through recording all my cd's at the 2 different formats to find what needs what so can anyone give a general rule for what type of music needs more space. Im guessing that metal will be more challenging, but I don't really know. Thanks again!

Let me start by saying that I know a lot of people only use their hi-md for recording, and also a lot has been written about this before, and its a personal choice etc but I was just interested in which format is most widely used for listening only, and why people choose their favoured codec. I only got my first non-sp only md (nh900) yesterday (as did a few others from amazon!). So far I have listened to lp2 and found it very convincing. I looked at hi-lp and it seems to on the border of being acceptable....with the supplied phones, it sounds pretty good and is definently useable. But when I tried the phones that came with my sharp md-mt15 (over the head types that I got 5 years ago!) I could spot the flaws. Basically, I am still deciding, and since I nearly always listen to my music on the bus/train, I will do best to try out the formats there (once I'm back at uni), and with the phones I usually use (senheiser mx400's). I have to say I'm still pretty much just messing with the plethora of options at the moment! I do think that I will end up going with hi-sp though since I'm always a fool for the stats - "it says its better, so it must be, even though I can't tell the difference!" ha. Thanks for any views and satisfying my curiosity!

Im afraid I dont know, or want to. I feel the volume is ok (so far) and am not willing to risk it (despite the price) - Good luck though, here is the previous post http://forums.minidisc.org/index.php?showtopic=8157

yes, search this forum, or hope that someone who can remember it comes along! Hope you enjoy your new hi-md (I got mine aswell yesterday, its brilliant!)

I will optimize, but I thats about it now, its still not as fast as winamp, but not by much, and if it falls to 5 seconds after optimizing and defragging, i'll be happy! Thanks again for your help, and just remember, don't split your library over 2 hard drives!

ok, first off, after re-importing the library, i have noticed the delays have decreased. It now takes about 7-10 seconds to open an artists albums, however I have not added my entire collection this time, I have another 300 songs on another (slower and smaller) hard drive. Perhaps this is a main factor (sorry I forgot to mention it before)! with large library [attachmentid=187] without [attachmentid=188] sorry about the size, but its just how it came out!

You mean paint - i knew what you meant! I'm just re-importing my collection now, but i have a shot of it with just 2 albums in aswell, give me a few minutes. Thanks for your support!

I'll work on it, how do you take sccreenshot? Sonicstage on its own or with outlook and ie running = no difference! i have about 30gb free

ha! wish i had - just bought nh900, phone got broke (went in washing machine), and bought some new cd's - no money for ram unfortunatley! I think, unless there is a specific solution, i'll stick with just importing, transferring then deleting. How does everyone else's ss3 run with similar (or larger) libraries?

Are you recording via the pc? Assuming you are recording via the pc, hi-sp is best, because via sonicstage true sp does not exist, it is lp2 rebadged as sp (I think - there is a lot of talk about this, but I don't always take it all in! - please feel free to correct me if I am spouting rubbish.). Otherwise, for normal optical line in recording, I believe that the last 3 posts are pretty unanimous!

sorry! Athlon 2400ghz processor 512mb ram windows xp sp2

I am posting here on the advice of kurisu: My sonicstage 3 runs very slowly when my entire collection is in the library. It is suggested that this is abnormal, is it? I have overcome it by just importing the files I plan to move to MD, then once they are transferred, deleting them. An example; I have about 200-250 zz top files. when double clicking on the artist name, zz top, it will take about 20 seconds to show all the albums (about 15). However, it will take a similar amount of time to open an artists albums if there is 1 song in 1 album for them. My entire collection is about 15gb, or 2800 songs. As I said in my original post, programs such as winamp perform much faster (no real delay) in doing the above operations. Thanks for any help! P.s. Does anyone know if in the foreseeable future there will be any plugins that allow atrac playback in winamp, xmms (linux) or similar, thanks again!

The only "problem" I've had so far is the slowness and poor library handling skills of sonicstage. I have a fairly decent pc, 2.4 Ghz Athlon, 512mb ram etc and it takes ages to do anything with the library (e.g. opening 1 artist's albums). It is bearable, but would it be better just to import the files to the library as i need them, then remove them from the library? I dont see how somthing like winamp can be so much more responsive! p.s. since this is my first hi-md, i am not entirely upto date on the atrac situation, I take it there is no chance of anyone writing a plugin for winamp or windows media player or xmms(linux) that allows them to even play atrac. Thanks for any info!

Wow!!! That's a bargain, they finally got my nh900 to me this afternoon, worth every penny!

Finally got my £70 nh900 from amazon today (I ordered it 23rd may!) and am also very happy!! - this is my first hi-md, I have used a sharp mt-15 and a panasonic player for about 5 and 3 years - I'll have to look at updating all my discs now!!

plus * Durability (If one disc breaks, so what. If your hard disc breaks...) * Battery life (You can run most md's from aa batteries, great for long trips and holidays) By contrast , the only advantages of a hdd player (that currently spring to mind) are: * Convenience (all songs in one place - but it must be bigger than 4gb, which raises the price) * Drag and drop

2004 models (nh series): mp3 must be converted to atrac first. This is done when sonicstage transfers the music to the player. 2005 models (rh/dh series): mp3 is supported (as long as it is transferred by sonicstage).

Price was its biggest advantage, but since thats out the window....

I ordered the nh900 from amazon when they were £70 (finally dispatched yesterday), but I think I would choose it over the nh1 anyway....It has the battery pack so you can run it from aa's. I think the nh1 is best suited to people who record, and given the choice, I'd go with the nh900. Either way, the nh900 will do what you want of it and it is still great value.

Just a technical question: How would a firmware update work? I would've thought that a mp3 decoding chip was required rather than mp3 decoding software. Would it even be possible to have mp3 decoding software in a minidisc player? I hope it is, since I've just bought a mznh900 cheap from amazon, but I'm not holding my breath...

I've just bought a nznh900. I have used minidisc for about 4 years (sharp mt15 and panasonic player) and do so instead of an mp3 player purely for battery length and duarbility. My panasonic usually goes 3 weeks before i have to charge the battery (being used 3 hours a day), and I just use aa's anyway, and if a disc gets broke, so what, its 50p.... Now the new sony mp3 players are out - and the new ipod is planned with longer battery lifes there is more competition from mp3 players, especially since they are already better in terms of software, convenience and the fact that you can use mac's (and linux?). You have to look at how much you'll use it (i.e. battery life) and what you need it for (recording etc) - its all a matter of personal taste

Get better soon! We hope to hear about all these new toys as soon as possible